122 AFRICAN GAME TRAILS 



and settlers, are only too apt to jump at the chance of criti- 

 cising a missionary for every alleged sin of either omission 

 or commission. Finally, zealous missionaries, fervent in the 

 faith, do not always find it easy to remember that sav- 

 ages can only be raised by slow steps, that an empty adhe- 

 rence to forms and ceremonies amounts to nothing, that 

 industrial training is an essential in any permanent upward 

 movement, and that the gradual elevation of mind and 

 character is a prerequisite to the achievement of any kind 

 of Christianity which is worth calling such. Nevertheless, 

 after all this has been said, it remains true that the good 

 done by missionary effort in Africa has been incalculable. 

 There are parts of the great continent, and among them 

 I include many sections of East Africa, which can be made 

 a white man's country; and in these parts every effort 

 should be made to favor the growth of a large and prosperous 

 white population. But over most of Africa the problem for 

 the white man is to govern, with wisdom and firmness, and 

 when necessary with severity, but always with an eye single 

 to their own interests and development, the black and brown 

 races. To do this needs sympathy and devotion no less than 

 strength and wisdom, and in the task the part to be played 

 by the missionary and the part to be played by the official 

 are alike great, and the two should work hand in hand. 



After returning from Machakos, I spent the night at Sir 

 Alfred's, and next morning said good-by with most genu- 

 ine regret to my host and his family. Then, followed by 

 my gun-bearers and sais, I rode off across the Athi Plains. 

 Through the bright white air the sun beat down merci- 

 lessly, and the heat haze wavered above the endless flats 

 of scorched grass. Hour after hour we went slowly for- 

 ward, through the morning, and through the burning heat 

 of the equatorial noon, until in mid-afternoon we came to 

 the tangled tree growth which fringed the half-dried bed of 

 the Athi. Here I off-saddled for an hour; then, mounting, 

 I crossed the river-bed where it was waterless, and before 

 evening fell I rode up to Juja Farm. 



